Armenians hide the harm to the environment from the exploitation of mines in Karabakh

Baku/15.12.22/Turan: The self-appointed leaders of the community of the Armenian-populated territory of the Karabakh economic zone of Azerbaijan prevented the monitoring by specialists of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Azerbaijan at the “Demirli” and “Gyzylbulag” mines. Khankendi claims that the mines they call "Kashen" and "Drmbon" are ecologically impeccable, and the intention of the Azerbaijani ministry to inspect these industries has only a political goal.

Turan studied the publications about the mines in Karabakh, published in the Armenian media, and during the entire period of the Armenian occupation of the region did not find a single article and news about the environmental inspection in “Demirli” and “Gyzylbulag,” the positive or negative result of the inspection of these mines by Armenian specialists.

There is no information at all about these mines, as if the earth were not dug up by bulldozers several tens of meters deep on a vast territory, and natural resources worth hundreds of millions of dollars are not extracted from there.

But there are many publications about the harm to the ecology of Karabakh from the construction of small hydroelectric power stations, which at that time belonged to Arayik Harutyunyan. Local ecologist Alexander Kananyan argued that small hydropower plants are destroying local rivers, disrupting the region's ecosystem. “Draining of rivers makes strategically important parts of Artsakh and Armenia uninhabitable.” After failing to stop the construction of small hydropower plants, Kananyan went on a hunger strike of protest from January 21 to February 4, 2020. The hunger strike was ended by Kananyan's victory. The authorities accepted his condition on the creation of a commission to study the impact of small hydropower plants on the environment with the participation of independent experts.

Nothing has been written about the mines in Karabakh, information about this is hidden. But there are many facts about the destructive impact on the ecology of mines in Armenia. In 2017, the Danish state credit agency decided to withdraw export credit guarantees to mine operators at the “Teghut” mine in Armenia, accusing the private owner of failing to comply with environmental standards.

In an application to cancel a loan for the “Teghut” mine, the State Credit Agency of Denmark notes that there are problems with water pollution in the mining area, with the earthquake resistance of the mine's tailings dam, as well as poor working conditions. The Yerevan edition of “Hetq” also notes that about 140 hectares of forest were cut down in the mine.

The publication cites the words of “Vallex” employee David Tadevosyan, who openly stated about several cases when water from the tailing dump was discharged into the river, which, however, according to him, "did not in any way pollute the river."

The issue of the “Teghut” and “Amulsar” mines was one of the reasons for Nikol Pashinyan's victory in his struggle for power in 2018. When he became prime minister, he announced the need for inspections in Armenian mines.

An important part of his speech is the assertion that “Armenia does not even have the equipment to conduct environmental studies and monitor the activity of mines. Pashinyan is sure that this happened because earlier the authorities were guided by one simple principle: “either the mine works, or the mine does not work.” “Today everyone is talking about Amulsar, but no studies have been conducted on the rest of the mines. Or the catastrophe has already happened, but we just do not know, or they hide from us so as not to spoil our mood?” - said the prime minister.

It is known that all industrial equipment was delivered to Karabakh from Armenia. Even if there is no technical possibility in Armenia to check the mines, then such equipment cannot be in Karabakh. Consequently, Armenians have no grounds to assert that there are no environmental problems in Karabakh due to the exploitation of molybdenum, copper, and gold mines.

According to Armenian data, the “Gyzylburun” and “Demirli” mines have been depleted during their operation. The “Demirli” mine has not been operated since September 27, 2020, since, following the war, the pumping station remained on the territory controlled by Azerbaijan, and the owners have no money to build a new station.

However, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources intends not only to conduct an environmental review, but also to assess the damage to Azerbaijan during the 30-year theft of our natural resources. Deputy Minister Vugar Kerimov spoke about this.

The report of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan "Illegal economic and other activities in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan" provides information on companies involved in the illegal development of mineral resources in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. These territories were rich in natural resources - there are about 155 deposits of precious stones, minerals, and iron, including rich deposits of non-ferrous metals, gold, mercury, lead, coal and zinc, perlite, and others.

“Mining products illegally mined in the occupied territories without complying with environmental standards, as raw materials are supplied to Armenia, processed at factories, and then exported as raw materials or semi-finished products,” Hikmet Hajiyev, at that time a former official representative of the Foreign Ministry, noted in 2018 AR (now Assistant to the President).